Mayweather/Mosely: The Afterthought

Can anyone defeat Floyd “Money” Mayweather currently boxing today? That answer, as most of you know, is a resounding “Hell No”. Mr. Mayweather dominated the only fighter who was capable of meeting that task and he quickly dismissed that notion with a 10 out of 12 round dominance we’ve all been accustomed to seeing from “Money” Mayweather.Even after being hurt in the 2nd round, he did as Nazim Richardson predicted he would if he’s ever to be hurt, “Sprout a tail, grow wings, and turn into a dragon”.

The question as to how Mayweather would react when in danger of being KO’d has been answered and should no longer become the topic of discussion after his routing of Mosely May 1st. Whether you’re a fan of Mayweather or not, he is without question the #1 Pound for Pound fighter in the world and should be considered a top 5 G.O.A.T. fighter once he hangs up his gloves for good.

During the 2nd round, whether you’d like to admit it or not, we all gasped, screamed, and was utterly shocked when Mosely landed that first lead right which appeared to buckle Mayweather. And that was even followed up with another solid punch which again rocked Money May and looked as though we might be witnessing one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. We were all wrong in our assumptions, but you have to give credit to Mosely for putting Mayweather to the test, although he passed with flying colors.

I’ve noticed quite a few Mayweather fans taking the low road when giving their assessment of the fight May 1st and also taking shots at Mosely’s career to solidify their point. Those fans fail to realize that Mosely has had a HOF career, and sought out challenges that most fighters would avoid in order to keep their place in the rankings and not tarnish their records. This is not a jab at Mayweather, cause despite my love/hate relationship for his personality outside the ring, he has fought the best in the divisions he’s moved to throughout his career.

My message is to those who let Mayweather’s alter ego lead their opinions without any regard to the facts. And believe it or not, despite Mayweather's disrespect throughout the 24/7 series, he has always had respect in the past and now for Mosely. He was selling a fight, and it shouldn’t be taken for more than just that.

In retrospect, I’ve been a fan of both fighters since their lightweight division days and they’ve been nothing less than stellar throughout their illustrious careers. Although I’m not a fan of the “villain” persona Mayweather has adopted in order to sell his image, it’s a brilliant marketing strategy and has resulted in him becoming colossal PPV attraction.

For those who have watched Floyd pre Gatti, he attempted to be the nice guy/Shane Mosely but it didn’t culminate to big money which he felt his skills would’ve accomplished despite his attitude. In Mosely’s case, he was naïve in his approach thinking his smile and nice guy personality wouldn’t get in the way of becoming mega star in the sport, but it did.

People love or hate the over confident characters or the trash talking villain, and Shane couldn’t pull that off even if he tried. But he is a warrior, a throwback fighter, and world class individual, so let’s not forget that cause once he’s done with the sport, he will be truly missed. There will come a day when we’ll miss watching Mayweather’s overall brilliance and Mosely’s exciting and aggressive style, but we should appreciate them today while their still fighting.

Being a fan of boxing doesn’t mean you have to take sides based on your favorite fighters, maybe in some cases, but not to the extent where we forget why we love the sport as much as we do. For every Ali there's a Mayweather, for every Leonard there's a Mosely, and in the future we’ll compare those names to the upcoming young fighters who will one day dominate the sport.